Thread: Bad Boy "Outlw"? 2010 model review

Let me preface this review by saying that before I bought a 2010 Outlaw I researched Dixie Chopper, Xmark, Huskie, and several others. I decided on the Outlaw because of a relationship with Helms Tractor in Montgomery, Al. I've spent probably 40,000-50,000 with Dick Helms in the last 5 years and have developed a trusting relationship with him and still do. I've seen many people requesting reviews on the Bad Boy line and felt compelled to write this. I'm 64 years old and nobody rides my equipment but me. The mower has a 54 inch deck, 31HP kawasaki engine and ZT5400 drive train. I'll break this review down by year for the 2.5 years I've owned it:

2010
Within two weeks I started throwing belts and anti scalp wheels started falling off. Also, the height adj. pin kept vibrating out. Having an automotive background, I realized the problem was in the hardware(nuts and bolts). I contacted Bad Boy, explained the problem, and they sent me a new belt and a set of scalp wheels. This problem continued thru the 2010 cutting season. They even recommended that I locktite the hardware, which I did to no avail.

2011
At the beginning of the cutting season, I was still having problems with belts coming off.The manual(actually it's more of a brochure) stated to adjust the spring tension to the thickness of a credit card. After adjusting the spring I started breaking springs(3 of them). Disgusted, I took the mower to Helms. After a week he informed me the mower was ready. When I picked the mower up I checked the spring with a credit card and you could actually get three credit cards in the spring. When I asked him about it he said "oh, you have to adjust the spring by eye". Huh? I continued to have the original bolt and nut problem as in 2010 but managed to keep them from falling off by tightening them every other cutting.

2012
After about four cuttings(late April) while cutting I noticed some vibration and strange noises(a bad sign on this mower). I stopped it and noticed the deck had fallen off the hangers. After looking it over, I noticed the adjusting pin had fallen out and gotten lost, allowing the deck to fall on the ground and vibrated the deck off the hangers. I put a bolt and nut in place of the pin, reattached the the deck and loaded the mower up for Helms. When I got to Helms I showed him the scalp wheels, which had two hours on them since I tightened. They were extemely loose. The tech at Helms said John, your left rear wheel is loose, this is probably where your vibration is coming from.I had a flat in June, 2010, repaired the tire and re-torqued the wheel to 80 ft lb. This was about 35 hours ago.

I really didn't want to turn this into a book but after fighting with Bad Boy for a week they have told me the mower is out of warranty, although all the problems I've had have gone on since the mower was two weeks old. I can't say enough bad things about Bad Boy customer service. After looking at the 2012 Outlaw, I notice they have put a retainer line on the height adj. pin, Plastic inserts on the scalp wheels, and new specs on adjusting the spring tensioner. This tells me I have been used to test their equipment. All I asked them to do was to supply me with the parts to upgrade the mower.By the way, the plate that the front scalp wheels attach to had to be replaced from being run loose.

I sincerely hope Bad Boy has "fixed" these problems but I really have my doubts. I hope this helps someone who is considering this mower. My advice would be "Buyer Beware!")

Bought a Bad Boy Lightning Z in mid 2010 because my SCAG Tiger Cub was pretty much done for at 2000+ hours. WHAT A MISTAKE. hundred hours throwing and wearing out deck belt, 200 hours tension spring breaks, 200 hours I hit a water box. Impact cause the cooling fan to to come in contact with the fan cover. fan blows apart and sends pieces of shrapnel through the radiiator. 200 hours uncontrollable caster wheel wobble due to caster wheels being mounted directly below the fork and not set back. POOR design.300 hours deck actuator not allowing deck to lower straight or level. (cutting height of 1"-4" nowhere near high enough for spring cutting) 400 hours hydro pump blows. BAd Boy brags about their 16cc hydro pumps. Well, you're going to need them. The hydro drive system is SO sloppy you're either spinning tire and tearing up a lawn or moving fast. there is no in between. It's like driving a '72 cadillac with that big sloppy, ower steering. 426 hours Bad Boy is sold on Craigslist for $4400. I immediately purchase a Exmark Lazer Z. 400 + hours this year. NO PROBLEMS. NOTHING. MY Exmark dealer was approached by a rep from Bad Boy to sell their mowers. He told the guy about my nightmare. Undaunted, the rep gave them a demo. It never ran right and couldn't be used for it's intended purpose. You may save a few thousand on a Bad Boy over a Exmark or Scag but trust me, the headache of the Bad Boy compared to the piece of mind of Exmark/Scag is well worth the extra money.

They field tested theirself pretty heavy, and also sent quite a few to florida (as it was off season during test period before release) and got quite a few changes to it before release. One big change was the 2 speed tranny.... I am very happy with their field testing, its just some issues take more than 35 or 50 units getting used for a couple of months to really come out.
Last year I got a XP prototype for nearly 5 months to bang around before the actual unit even got a release at the dealer meeting presentation, and it still has a few nitpicky things I would like to see different (I have never used a "perfect" mower, but its neat someone is listening and striving for it), Gravely and Bad Boy both are working on it pretty hard, and I think are world's over the competition in the "listening" department. The 460 and XP are a result of alot of that listening.... Cool thing about Bad Boy is everything they are doing for us and still not ridiculous on the pricing situation....
Op, send me a pm with your information, and I will forward up to the factory and maybe get you fixed up with a new height pin, some nuts that will hold your anti scalp wheels, and get you on the right track on your belt/spring issue...

Please let me know if BB needs some one to do some field testing I have some big ruff 20 acres lotts and some with 30* slopes.

HAHAHA......SURE you do! I know you COULDN'T be hoping for more bad press for BB.....now could you?......oh man........

Wow man you need help...I aways wish the best for fellow LCO's. I could care less about BB press, more concerned with down time that costs us a fortune. There are lessons on LS, some seem to get deleted, some dont....Posted via Mobile Device

It's hard to keep poorly made equipment running that long. We will be reading about the problems the 2012 models have next year. Along with all the excuses about y it keeps falling apart. And how good the 2013 will be.

i'll just say i've had my 2011 deere for the same amount of time as you had your BB outlaw. i have had zero problems. nothing has broken. i haven't had to replace anything other than normal maintenance like oil changes, greasing, filters, and blades.

still on original belts and deck hasn't moved any at all. it's still set exactly right where it was when i bought it. what is on the dial is the exact height the blades cut at.

i'll just say i've had my 2011 deere for the same amount of time as you had your BB outlaw. i have had zero problems. nothing has broken. i haven't had to replace anything other than normal maintenance like oil changes, greasing, filters, and blades.

still on original belts and deck hasn't moved any at all. it's still set exactly right where it was when i bought it. what is on the dial is the exact height the blades cut at.